Inside the Indianapolis Public Schools Mastery Model of Credit Recovery

Rather than mandating seat time, the IPS credit recovery program emphasizes content knowledge, peer collaboration, and real-time student support.

When Cara Hachmeister, graduation and alternative services coordinator for Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS), tells parents that their child will be participating in the district’s credit recovery program, they sometimes panic: Does this mean my child is not going to graduate or go to college?

“But credit recovery doesn’t mean a student failed everything and they’re barely graduating,” Hachmeister clarifies. “Students take credit recovery for all different reasons. Maybe they got a C-minus in a class, and for a certain college, they need that grade to be higher. Some students are more comfortable working with our specialists. Credit recovery can bring really positive opportunities.”

Sometimes dismissed as a last-ditch effort to bail out failing students, credit recovery has evolved into a powerful, flexible tool to help all learners succeed. Credit recovery is especially useful in districts like IPS that focus on rigor, relevance, and support, as it helps in defining program goals and expectations far beyond mere seat time. In fact, Hachmeister says that credit recovery programs can serve as an important counterweight to traditional grading practices that are based on what she calls “tissue box points,” doled out to students who sit quietly, do their homework, and generally behave as expected. 

“We know that happens,” Hachmeister elaborates. “Definitely, a student can fully know the content and still fail. So, if a student has taken Algebra 1 twice already, and they can pass the end-of-semester test, we’re seeing that the student knows the content, even though they failed the course. We’re looking for mastery.” 

Beyond “Sit-and-Get”

Indianapolis Public Schools offers its credit recovery program at all four of the district’s traditional high schools, as well as through alternative programs for students in the other school settings. In addition to helping students make up credits or improve their grades, the program provides an avenue for district newcomers to take core courses that weren’t required in their previous district. 

Students in IPS earn thousands of credits each year through the credit recovery program. At Arsenal Technical High School, the district’s largest high school, students earned 1,200 credits in one recent semester—about one credit for every two students enrolled. In 2024, the district’s graduation rate was 87.5 percent, up from 81.5 percent the year before. Statewide, graduation rates reached record highs, as chronic absenteeism inched downward, a good combination of positive trends. 

Before placing students in credit recovery, the district gives them an opportunity to try to earn credits in a more traditional setting. 

“When a student fails a course, we try to put them in summer school, or we do a backtrack course,” Hachmeister explains. “If they fail again for whatever reason, they’re enrolled in credit recovery. We have labs with specialists, and students have that credit recovery time on their schedule. The good thing is that students can work ahead in multiple classes, and even though credit recovery is only one class period on their schedule, they’re often earning more than one credit in a semester.”

During their credit recovery blocks, IPS students access coursework through the self-paced online platform, Edmentum Courseware—learning through video tutorials and interactive lessons, and then demonstrating their knowledge through quizzes and end-of-unit assessments. Courseware allows teachers to set pacing timelines within the platform and require students to complete units before certain deadlines to ensure that they are progressing through their coursework, rather than cramming at the end of the term. 

Students who are older than 18 and have work or family responsibilities are given the flexibility to complete the coursework on their own, but most students participate in the program through credit recovery labs where they can ask questions, collaborate with peers, and receive support from specialists. Hachmeister shared that this combination of learning online and receiving in-person support from district staff helps make students active participants in their own learning.

“We’re not just saying, ‘You failed the class; here’s a computer, go log on, and let us know when you’re done. It’s not ‘sit-and-get’ content. We want it to be interactive. We want it to be meaningful. We want to make sure that they're engaged and that they’re earning credits they can be really proud of.”

Flexibility with Rigor

Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to credit recovery, Indianapolis Public Schools tailors its program to the specific needs of individual students—or, in certain cases, entire classes of students. Depending on demand, students in a credit recovery classroom may all be working on different material, but schools try to group students working on similar content when possible.

“It really depends on the school and the class,” Hachmeister explains. “Biology is a class where we end up using a lot of credit recovery. If we can chunk biology and create one whole section of students who need biology credit recovery, then we love for teachers or lab specialists to run it as one class. The students can all watch the videos together, and they can work together in more of a blended-learning model. And teachers can do the lab component, so they’re still getting some of the hands-on activities they would get in a traditional classroom.” 

Nationally, credit recovery programs have sometimes battled the perception that they are less rigorous than when courses are taken for original credit—or even a mere formality that allows some districts to push students to the high school finish line without the skills they will need to succeed in college or the workforce. But Hachmeister notes that students in credit recovery have already sat through traditional classes and, therefore, have already put in the required seat time. What they need from the program, she says, is not simply more hours at a desk, but rather a structured environment to help ensure that they master the content. 

“There are unit activities; there are discussions,” Hachmeister describes. “Our lab specialists are very hands-on. I love when I see groups of students working together. They collaborate, talk about their answers, and even argue with each other about the content. They’re not just going in and taking a multiple-choice test over and over until they pass it. We’re creating these authentic environments where students are learning the same things they would learn in a traditional classroom.”

About the author

Calvin Hennick has written for Scholastic Instructor, EdTech Magazine, The Boston Globe, and dozens of other publications. His debut memoir, Once More to the Rodeo, was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Amazon. He began his career as a middle-school English teacher with Teach For America.